What is the regular day?

It is a way of thinking about life. 

Our concept of how we are doing in life is based on what are regular day looks like.

    The regular day philosophy is that the more you understand your regular day, the more you can set your mind to value the regular days for what they are really worth. Once you examine your regular days, and watch yourself as you move through each day you quickly realize the direction you life is heading. Once you get a good handle on your own regular day, it allows you to see if you adding value each day, or losing ground, or if you are just holding steady. 

Once you understand the direction of your regular days...

    This is the point when you can start asking questions. Are my regular days stacking up the way I want them to? Or does each day make life a little harder for me. Am I just holding on so tightly just to break even each day? Can my regular days stack up to become a better life? What about the effect of my regular days on others. Does someone else have to make a sacrifice just so you can have a regular day? What do you have to contribute to others for them to have a regular day? 

What about my big dreams and hopes? 

    Nothing wrong with big dreams and hopes, wild riches, fame and fortune. Those things are wonderful, and I admire people who get those things. I can tell you that those have a price to pay on your regular day, and if you don't pay attention to that price your fame, fortune or whatever will become a wasteland of yarning for just a regular day. Keep in mind your regular day is the foundation of your life, not the things you have accumulated, or the hard earned dollars in you bank account.

Things to look out for in your regular day.

    When I first started putting the pieces together on my regular day the first thing I realized was that I was wasting a lot of time doing things that were very wasteful. Mostly out of habit, without though or concern for all the things I should have been doing in that wasted time. Not to say I was lazy (I am, but it is painful to talk about) but there were a lot of things around me that needed to be done and I had time to do it in. None of those little things were a burden on me but would make my day, and other's regular day a bit better. Adding a little thing to my regular day made it a little better. I started wondering how far that could go. If I find myself wasting time, I should try to fill that time with things that would make my regular day a bit better. 

    It is a slow, sometimes painful process to change your regular day. Your mind does not like it. It also has an impact on the people around you, sometimes not in ways you expect. I found that the some of the time I thought I was wasting was simply me being an available resource for someone else. My advise is that if you plan to change your regular day be careful. If you change too much in a single day the pain will overwhelm you and you may have unexpected consequences on those around you. 

Building the regular day. 

    Everyone's day is filled with schedules, routines, habits, and addictions. When you add these up over time they show a direction. So the first thing to do is to observe yourself, without judgement or desire to change anything. Just discover what your regular day is. This observation will lead you to see the the direction of you life. 

A few definitions are in order here. I am not a social scientist or phycologist, so my definitions may not fit that of others. 

Direction of life- this is the sum of your regular days, when regular days are added up they will show a clear direction in the areas of finance, satisfaction, and relationships. Since it is an aggregate sum of regular days it is the one most people want to change but the one they have the least control over. The things that influence direction in life will be too many not so regular days, and regular days that are not designed to properly. I don't know how many well designed regular days it takes to influence the direction in life. For some it will take much longer due to not so regular days. It does not take many of those to change the direction of life. Once you have designed your regular day you have to fight for it. Sometimes a single event can take them away from you for a very long time. 

Schedules-  I have spent my life ignoring schedules. Let me tell you what happens when you do not create your own schedule. Other people will write it for you. Your boss, your spouse, your bills, your routines, habits, and most of all your additions. Your schedule is a cage, or prison. Depending on who wrote your schedule will tell weather you can have time outside of it. You only have choice in your schedule if you are writing it. 

Routines- processes that make up most of your life. Mostly automatic in nature, routines are how we do things that come up a lot. A good routine will allow you to move through tasks easily with minimal effort. On the flip side a bad routine will create pain, wasted time, and wasted energy. We all have good and bad routines, It is important to realize they are there and focus on keeping the good ones and minimizing the bad ones. 

Habits- much deeper than a routine, really hard to identify because habits are routines that become totally automatic. There are good habits we develop and are to our benefit, like looking both ways before crossing the street. Step back a moment and imagine how uncomfortable it is to cross a street without looking both ways. Habits are automatic, but can be stopped, it just takes a lot of conscience effort. Examine your habits, some will seem a bit crazy or unreasonable, but being aware of a crack in the sidewalk is not all bad (sometimes they cause you to trip) I pretty much avoid cracks in walkways although I realize it is mostly a silly habit except when it is not. Most of our habits are silly, there are few that just waste effort and time, but do no other harm. It is good to be aware of your habits, and it is a good idea to watch them carefully to make sure they don't waste too much. 

Addictions- we are all addicted to air, we need a constant flow of it just to keep us alive. our bodies will fight for each and every breath. we are all addicted to food, that is where good and bad addictions become apparent. Overdosing on food, or feasting can be very rewarding but a constant feast will cause undue harm to the body. Let me tell you how to tell weather you are dealing with a habit or addiction. With a habit your mind will set off danger signals, and your reflexes will gear up to help you act out a habit. Habits can change with will power, persistence, and active thought. True addictions never go away, they will always want to take up more of your time and attention, they always feel like if you don't satisfy them they will KILL you. The amount of your life force that fights for that thing or activity you are addicted to will always try to satisfy it. Most addictions are not bad, as long as you don't overindulge, even too much air can make you pass out, steady breathing in the right amount is best even over the most uncomfortable situations. This is why we must all be very careful with the addictions we have or start to develop. 

 The regular day is the direction of your life.